Seoul National University (SNU; ) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are "the key sites of Knowledge production modes, knowledge production", along with "intergenerational ...

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, South Korea. It is one of the

SKY The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the planetary surface, surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from ...

universities and a part of the

Flagship Korean National Universities The Flagship National Universities (Korea NU 10, , Hanja: 據點國立大學校, literally: national universities designed as provincial centres) is a collective term referring to ten universities in South Korea that have joined the Presidential C ...

. The university's main campus is located in Gwanak, and two additional campuses are located in

Daehangno Daehang-no () is a area in Jongno District within Downtown Seoul. Formerly known as Sunggyo-bang (), it received its current name after the 1.1 km six lane road from Hyehwa-dong rotary to Ihwa-dong crossroad was designated as a "street ...

and

Pyeongchang Pyeongchang ( , ; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seo ...

. The university comprises sixteen colleges, one graduate school and nine professional schools. The student body consists of nearly 17,000 undergraduate and 11,000 graduate students.

History

Pre-establishment

Seoul National University (SNU) originates from various educational institutions established by King Gojong of the

Joseon dynasty Joseon ( ; ; also romanized as ''Chosun''), officially Great Joseon (), was a dynastic kingdom of Korea that existed for 505 years. It was founded by Taejo of Joseon in July 1392 and replaced by the Korean Empire in October 1897. The kingdom w ...

. Several of them were integrated into various colleges when SNU was founded later. To modernize the country, Gojong initiated the establishment of modern higher education institutions. By means of the issue of a royal order, the law academy ' has been founded on March 25, 1895. It produced 209 graduates including the later envoy

Yi Tjoune Yi Chun (; December 18, 1859 – July 14, 1907), name sometimes rendered Yi Tjoune, was a Korean prosecutor and diplomat and the father of the North Korean politician Lee Yong. Early life Yi Chun was born in 1859 in Pukchong County, South Ha ...

. ''Hanseong Sabeomhakgyo'' (established in 1895), a training school for teachers and ''Euihakkyo'' (1899), a medical school, are also considered the origins of respective colleges. After the proclamation of the

Korean Empire The Korean Empire, officially the Empire of Korea or Imperial Korea, was a Korean monarchical state proclaimed in October 1897 by King Gojong of the Joseon dynasty. The empire lasted until the Japanese annexation of Korea in August 1910. Dur ...

in 1897, Gojong, the then emperor, was motivated to create more modern education institutions. In 1899, a medical school was established. This school changed its name several times to ''Daehan Euiwon Gyoyukbu'' and ''Gyeongseong Euihak Jeonmunhakgyo'' (Gyeongseong Medical College) and finally became College of Medicine of SNU. In 1901, a department for

nursing Nursing is a health care profession that "integrates the art and science of caring and focuses on the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and human functioning; prevention of illness and injury; facilitation of healing; and alle ...

was established, which was the forerunner of the later College of Nursing. During the Japanese rule,

Keijō Imperial University Keijō Imperial University was an National Seven Universities, Imperial University in Keijō (Seoul), Korea, Empire of Japan that existed between 1924 and 1946. The university was seen as the preeminent educational institution in colonial Korea. ...

was established as one of Japan's nine

imperial universities The were founded by the Empire of Japan between 1886 and 1939, seven in Mainland Japan, one in Korea under Japanese rule and one in Taiwan under Japanese rule. These universities were funded by the imperial government until the end of World War I ...

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and the

independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

of Korea, the name of the university was changed from ''Keijō Teikoku Daigaku'' (京城帝国大学) to ''Gyeongseong Daehak'' (경성대학, 京城大學, Gyeongseong University). The

Hanja Hanja (; ), alternatively spelled Hancha, are Chinese characters used to write the Korean language. After characters were introduced to Korea to write Literary Chinese, they were adapted to write Korean as early as the Gojoseon period. () ...

that were used in the name were pronounced in the Korean reading and the attribute "Imperial" was removed and changed to "National".

Establishment

SNU was founded on August 27, 1946, by merging ten institutions of higher education around the Seoul area. The schools which have been merged were: * Gyeongseong (Seoul) University (''Gyeongseong (Seoul) Daehak'', 경성(서울)대학) * Gyeongseong College of Education (''Gyeongseong Sabeomhakgyo'', 경성사범학교) * Gyeongseong Women's College of Education (''Gyeongseong Yeoja Sabeomhakgyo'', 경성여자사범학교) * Gyeongseong Law College (''Gyeongseong Beophak Jeonmunhakgyo'', 경성법학전문학교) * Gyeongseong Industrial College (''Gyeongseong Gongeop Jeonmunhakgyo'', 경성공업전문학교) * Gyeongseong Mining College (''Gyeongseong Gwangsan Jeonmunhakgyo'', 경성광산전문학교) * Gyeongseong Medical College (''Gyeongseong Euihak Jeonmunhakgyo'', 경성의학전문학교) * Suwon Agriculture College (''Suwon Nongnim Jeonmunhakgyo'', 수원농림전문학교) * Gyeongseong College of Economics (''Gyeongseong Gyeongje Jeonmunhakgyo'', 경성경제전문학교) * Gyeongseong Dentistry College (''Gyeongseong Chigwa Euihak Jeonmunhakgyo'', 경성치과의학전문학교) The first president was Harry Bidwell Ansted. For over a year and a half, there was a protest movement by students and professors against the law of the U.S. military government in Korea merging colleges. Finally, 320 professors were fired and more than 4,950 students left the school. The university's second president was Lee Choon-ho (), who served beginning in October 1947. The College of Law was founded by merging the law department of Kyŏngsŏng University (Keijō Imperial University) with Kyŏngsŏng Law College. The university absorbed Seoul College of Pharmacy in September 1950, as the college of

Pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...

. This had previously been a private institution. In 1950, during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

, the university was occupied by North Korea. During which, the

Seoul National University Hospital massacre The Seoul National University Hospital massacre () was a massacre of 700 to 900 doctors, nurses, inpatient civilians and wounded soldiers by the Korean People's Army (KPA) on 28 June 1950 at the Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul dist ...

occurred. The university then temporarily moved to

Busan Busan (), officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second list of cities in South Korea by population, most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.3 million as of 2024. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economi ...

and merged with other universities in South Korea.

Relocation

Originally, the main campus (which embraced the College of Humanities and Sciences and College of Law) was in Dongsung-dong,

Jongno District upright=1, Bosingak bell pavilion Jongno District () is one of the 25 districts of Seoul, South Korea. It is the historic center of Seoul that contains Gyeongbokgung, the main royal palace of the Joseon dynasty, and the Blue House, the for ...

. After the construction of a new main campus in

Gwanak District Gwanak District () is one of the 25 districts (''gu'') of Seoul, South Korea. It lies on the southern skirt of Seoul, bordering Anyang, Gyeonggi Province. The southern border of Gwanak District, bordering Anyang, consists of the craggy ridg ...

in February 1975, most colleges of the university relocated to the new Gwanak Campus between 1975 and 1979 by the request of president

Park Chung Hee Park Chung Hee (; ; November14, 1917October26, 1979) was a South Korean politician and army officer who served as the third president of South Korea from 1962 after he seized power in the May 16 coup of 1961 until Assassination of Park Chung ...

who disliked student protests at the site where the (founded in the early 1960s and relocated in

Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Hwaseong (; ) is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It is located on the coast of the Yellow Sea. It has the largest area of farmland of any city or county in Gyeonggi Province. Seoul Subway Line 1 ...

) was formerly located. Part of the former main campus in Jongno District is still used by the College of Medicine, the College of Dentistry and the College of Nursing and is now called Yeongeon Campus. In 2012, lawmakers reported that the ruling

Saenuri Party The Liberty Korea Party () was a conservative political party in South Korea that was described variously as right-wing, right-wing populist, or far-right. Until February 2017, it was known as the Saenuri Party (), and before that as the Hanna ...

, prior to the presidential election in December, seriously proposed a plan to relocate the university to the newly established special autonomous

Sejong City Sejong or Sejong City (; ), officially Sejong Special Self-Governing City (), is a List of special cities of South Korea, special self-governing city and the ''de facto'' administrative capital of South Korea. Sejong was founded in 2007 as the ...

. The move came as part of an overall effort to decentralize the capital's governmental apparatus. Originally the national government had approached the university in 2009 to host the building of a satellite campus. It was reported the following year that the university had considered withdrawing from the Sejong plan.

Presidents

Academics

Admissions

Admissions to SNU are extremely competitive. From 1981 to 1987, when an applicant could apply only to one university at a time, more than 80% of the top 0.5% scorers in the annual government-administered scholastic achievement test applied to SNU and many of them were unsuccessful.

Academic structure

Sixteen colleges of the university offer 83 undergraduate degree programs. For master and doctoral programs there is one graduate school with 99 programs from five fields of studies. The interdisciplinary programs are the ones invented and operated by more than two departments. In addition to that, there are twelve professional graduate schools.

Colleges

* College of Humanities * College of Social Sciences * College of Business Administration * College of Education * College of Fine Arts * College of Liberal Studies * College of Human Ecology * College of Music * College of Engineering * College of Natural Sciences * College of Agriculture & Life Sciences * College of Medicine * College of Nursing * College of Pharmacy * College of Veterinary Medicine

Professional Graduate Schools

* Graduate School of Data Science * Graduate School of Public Health * Graduate School of Public Administration * Graduate School of Environmental Studies * Graduate School of International Studies * Graduate School of Business * Graduate School of Convergence Science Technology * Graduate School of International Agriculture Technology * Graduate School of Engineering Practice *

School of Law A law school (also known as a law centre/center, college of law, or faculty of law) is an institution, professional school, or department of a college or university specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for bec ...

* School of Dentistry * School of Medicine

Campus

Seoul National University occupies two Seoul-based, one Pyeongchang-based campuses: the Gwanak Campus is situated in 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak District; and the Yongon Campus is north of the Han River in

; and the new Pyeongchang campus in

Pyeongchang County Pyeongchang ( , ; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ) is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, county in the province of Gangwon Province, South Korea, Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddh ...

, Gangwon Province.

Location

Gwanak Campus, the main campus, is located in the southern part of Seoul. It is served by its own subway station on Line 2. Yeongeon Campus, the medical campus, is on Daehangno (University Street), northeast Seoul. The defunct Suwon Campus, the agricultural campus, also known as the Sangnok Campus (Evergreen Campus), used to be located in

Suwon Suwon (; ) is the largest city and capital of Gyeonggi Province, South Korea's most populous province. The city lies approximately south of the national capital, Seoul. With a population of 1.2 million, Suwon has more inhabitants than Ulsan, tho ...

, about 40 km south of Seoul. The agricultural campus moved to Gwanak in Autumn 2004, but some research facilities still remain in Suwon.

Future Campus plans

In February 2010 Seoul National initiated a memorandum with the city of

Siheung Siheung (; ) is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. The city has a population of 511,807 people, where 508,646 are residents out of 218,846 households as of August 2021. Siheung acquired its cu ...

to establish a global campus. Signed with the city's mayor and governor of

Gyeonggi Province Gyeonggi Province (, ) is the most populous province in South Korea. Seoul, the nation's largest city and capital, is in the heart of the area but has been separately administered as a provincial-level ''special city'' since 1946. Incheon, ...

for administrative assistance, the university acquired of property in the west-coast economic zone, near the

Songdo International Business District Songdo (), officially known as Songdo International Business District (Songdo IBD), is a smart city built on of reclaimed land along Incheon's waterfront, southwest of Seoul, South Korea. It is connected to Incheon International Airport by a r ...

Pyeongtaek Pyeongtaek (; ) is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Located in the southwestern part of the province, Pyeongtaek was founded as a union of two districts in 1940. It was elevated to city status in 1986 and is home to a South Korean naval b ...

harbor,

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports, and feature longer runways and have faciliti ...

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manc ...

. The land acquisition will increase the university's size by 58% over its current 1.4 million square meters (350 acres) to 2.2 million square meters (550 acres) and headcount by an expected 10,000 people or 33% of its current figure. Along with lecture halls and additional liberal arts and graduate courses, the initiative will add a medical complex including a research hospital and training centre, research centre for dentistry and clinical pharmacology, dormitories, apartments, an international middle and high school, and other facilities. Planning to open the international campus in 2014, the university intends to share the initiative with other regional national institutions.

Facilities

Library

The Seoul National University Library is located behind the university administrative building in the 62nd block of the Gwanak Campus. The chief librarian, Dr. Kim Jong-seo, professor of religious studies in the College of Humanities, took office in 2009. Following the completion of Kwanjeong Library in February 2015, the SNU Library reached a size of 57,747 square meters. As of 2022, the library is home to 5.2 million volumes of books as well as over 260,000 academic journals and e-journals, and over 230,000 non-book materials. The Central Library has constructed a digital library, which in addition to the regular library collection provides access to university publications, ancient texts, and theses. Included here are images of pamphlets, lecture slides, and insects. The digital library offers access to video of university exhibitions, scientific events, symposia, and seminars. The library was opened in 1946 as the "Seoul National University Central Library" and inherited its facilities and books from Keijō Imperial University. In 1949, the name of the library was changed to the "Seoul National University Library Annex". When the main branch of the library was relocated to the Gwanak Campus in January 1975, it was renamed the "Seoul National University Library", and then renamed again in 1992 as the "Seoul National University Central Library". In 1966, provisions were made to systematize the library's collections. The original library was organized into 12 annexes for each of the university's colleges: engineering, education, physics, art, law, theology, pharmacology, music, medicine, dentistry, administration, and agricultural sciences. Two years later, in 1968, libraries for newspapers and the liberal arts were added to bring the number of annexes to 14. However, as the main branch was moved to the Gwanak Campus, the education, physics, legal, theological, administrative, newspaper, liberal arts, and pharmacological libraries were combined in a single building.

Kyujanggak

The Kyujanggak, also spelled "Gyujanggak", was the royal library during the

Joseon Joseon ( ; ; also romanized as ''Chosun''), officially Great Joseon (), was a dynastic kingdom of Korea that existed for 505 years. It was founded by Taejo of Joseon in July 1392 and replaced by the Korean Empire in October 1897. The kingdom w ...

period. It was founded in 1776 by order of

King Jeongjo of Joseon Jeongjo (; 28 October 1752 – 18 August 1800), personal name Yi San (), sometimes called Jeongjo the Great (), was the 22nd monarch of the Joseon dynasty of Korea. He was the second son of Crown Prince Sado and Lady Hyegyŏng, and succeeded ...

, at which time it was located on the grounds of

Changdeokgung Changdeokgung () is a former royal palace in Seoul, South Korea. A UNESCO World Heritage Site and a Historic Sites (South Korea), Historic Site of South Korea, it is among the best preserved of all Korean palaces. It and its neighboring palace Cha ...

. Today known as Kyujanggak Royal Library or Kyujanggak Archives are maintained by Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies () at SNU. It functions as a key repository of Korean historical records and a centre for research and publication of the annual journal ''Kyujanggak''.

Museum

Seoul National University Museum is located at the Gwanak Campus. It opened alongside the university in 1946 under the name "The Seoul National University Museum Annex." The original two-story Dongsung-dong building, which was erected in 1941, had served as the Keijō Imperial University Museum until it was transferred intact to SNU. When the museum was moved to the sixth floor of the Central Library, in 1975, it was renamed the "Seoul National University Museum". The museum was then moved to newly constructed facilities, next to the Dongwon Building, in 1993, which it has occupied to this day. Dr. Park Nak-gyu is its director.

Museum of Art

The Seoul National University Museum of Art (SNUMoA) was established in 1995 with contributions from the Samsung Cultural Foundation after a proposal from Dr. Lee Jong-sang, a professor of Oriental Art. The building was designed by Dutch architect

Rem Koolhaas Remment Lucas Koolhaas (; born 17 November 1944) is a Dutch architect, architectural theory, architectural theorist, urbanist and Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Graduate School of ...

, with construction entrusted to the

Samsung Group Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous affiliated businesses, most of which operate unde ...

. The structure lies three stories above and below ground, with its major distinguishing feature, the forward area,

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...

ing off the ground. Construction lasted from 2003 to 2005, and the museum opened on June 8, 2006. Dr. Jung Hung-min assumed directorship of the gallery in 2006.

Gymnasium

The Seoul National University Gymnasium is an indoor sporting arena. The capacity of the arena is 5,000 and was built in 1986 to host table tennis and badminton (demonstration) events at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

Dormitory

The dormitory of SNU is named Gwanaksa (). Dormitories for undergraduate and graduate students as well as families are located here. It was founded August 1975, with five Gwanaksa buildings and one welfare building, which housed 970 male students. The female dormitory was founded in February 1983. By June 2007, there were one administration building, two welfare buildings, 12 undergraduate dormitory buildings, six graduate students' dormitory buildings, which in total housed 3,680 students. Unlike other university dormitories in South Korea, there is no curfew hour. The dormitory Yeongeonsa is located on the Yeongeon campus, which is the medical school of SNU. Yeongeonsa can house 533 undergraduate students and 17 family households.

''University Newspaper''

''The University Newspaper'' () is school's

student newspaper A student publication is a media outlet such as a newspaper, magazine, television show, or radio station Graduate student journal, produced by students at an educational institution. These publications typically cover local and school-related new ...

. The first edition of the paper was launched during the Korean War, on February 4, 1952. In 1953 it was moved to Dongsung-dong in Seoul, where from 1958 even editions for high school were published. Financial difficulties in 1960 led the paper to cease printing for a time. It was relocated to the Gwanak Campus in 1975, where it has been in continuous publication until the present day. At the time of its first launch the paper was sold for 500 won a copy, sometimes twice a week. Now, however, it is distributed for free every Monday. The school paper is not available during schools breaks or exams.

Reputation and rankings

Reputation

SNU graduates dominate South Korea's academics, government, politics and business. A KEDI study found that the university's name-value translates into wages that are on average about 12 percent higher than that of any other Korean university. Approximately one in four Korean university presidents obtained their undergraduate degree at SNU. Between 2003 and 2009, more students who graduated from science high schools and received presidential scholarships matriculated at SNU than at eight other leading universities combined. The chiefs of the government-run

College Scholastic Ability Test The College Scholastic Ability Test or CSAT (), also abbreviated as Suneung (), is a standardised test which is recognised by South Korean universities. The Korea Institute of Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE) administers the annual test on the t ...

(CSAT) are mostly SNU graduates.

International rankings

In 2015,

Thomson-Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational content-driven technology conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and maintains its headquarters at 19 Duncan Street there. Thomson Reuters was creat ...

ranked SNU as the 31st most innovative institution in the world.

QS World University Rankings The ''QS World University Rankings'' is a portfolio of comparative college and university rankings compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analytics firm. Its first and earliest edition was published in collaboration with '' Times ...

(2023) ranked SNU as the 29th best university in the world and 7th in Asia, whilst it is 7th in the independent regional

QS Asian University Rankings The ''QS World University Rankings'' is a portfolio of comparative college and university rankings compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analytics firm. Its first and earliest edition was published in collaboration with ''Times Hig ...

(2023). SNU is 11th in Asia and 56th in the world according to the 2023

Times Higher Education World University Rankings The ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'', often referred to as the THE Rankings, is the annual publication of university rankings by the ''Times Higher Education'' magazine. The publisher had collaborated with Quacquarelli Symon ...

. In 2023, its World Reputation Rankings were considered it to be 44th globally. Moreover,

ARWU The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong Universi ...

(2022) regarded SNU to be among 98th worldwide and the best in the country. CWUR 2020–2021 ranks SNU as 31st best in the world. QS University Subject Rankings (2018): 25th,

Arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creativity, creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive ...

and

Humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

; 16th,

Engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

and

Technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

; 37th,

Life Sciences This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natural science, ...

and

Medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

; 21st,

Social Sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

and

Management Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...

; 20th,

Natural Sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

. The institute was ranked 20th in publications by a 2008 analysis of data from the

Science Citation Index The Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) is a citation index owned by Clarivate and previously by Thomson Reuters. It was created by the Eugene Garfield at the Institute for Scientific Information, launched in 1964 as Science Citation Index ( ...

, and the following year ranked 8th in the world in

clinical trial Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human subject research, human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel v ...

s. In 2011, the Mines ParisTech: Professional Ranking World Universities reported that SNU is ranked 10th in the world in terms of the number of alumni holding

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

positions in

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...

enterprises. SNU also had the third highest number of students who went on to earn Ph.Ds in American institutions in 2006.

Controversies

There are issues concerning diversity and racial discrimination against foreign professors at SNU. There was an effort to recruit foreign professors for several years from 2009 onwards, with numbers peaking at 242 or 4% of the total. This number has declined, with a large proportion of the newer "foreign" recruits actually being former South Korean citizens who became naturalized as foreign citizens abroad. Many of the earlier batch of foreign professors left after complaining of racial discrimination against them, sometimes without even giving notice. SNU failed to boost its international reputation by offering contracts to

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

laureates, but they are mostly retired and holding other academic posts elsewhere, are rarely on campus and sometimes leave before their contracts run out.

Notable alumni and faculty

File:Kim Young-sam presidential portrait.jpg,

Kim Young-sam Kim Young-sam (, ; 20 December 1927 – 22 November 2015), often referred to by his initials YS, was a South Korean politician and activist who served as the seventh president of South Korea from 1993 to 1998. From 1961, Kim spent almost 30 ye ...

, 14th

President of South Korea The president of the Republic of Korea (), also known as the president of South Korea (), is the head of state and head of government of South Korea. The president directs the executive branch of the Government of South Korea, government and is ...

File:South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol portrait.jpg,

Yoon Suk Yeol Yoon Suk Yeol (; born 18 December 1960) is a South Korean politician and former prosecutor who served as the 13th president of South Korea from 2022 until Impeachment of Yoon Suk Yeol, he was removed from office in 2025. The shortest-serving ...

, 20th

File:Ban Ki-moon February 2016.jpg,

Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was the South Korean minister ...

, 8th

Secretary-General of the United Nations The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...

File:Lee Jae-yong in 2016.jpg,

Lee Jae-yong Lee Jae-yong (; born June 23, 1968) is a South Korean business executive who has served as the executive chairman of Samsung Electronics since October 2022. He is the only son of Lee Kun-hee and Hong Ra-hee. As of December 2024, Lee has an e ...

, chairman of

Samsung Electronics Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (SEC; stylized as SΛMSUNG; ) is a South Korean multinational major appliance and consumer electronics corporation founded on 13 January 1969 and headquartered in Yeongtong District, Suwon, South Korea. It is curr ...

File:June Huh - ICM 2018.jpg,

June Huh June E Huh (; born June 9, 1983) is an American mathematician who is currently a professor at Princeton University. Previously, he was a professor at Stanford University. He was awarded the Fields Medal and a MacArthur Fellowship in 2022. He ha ...

, 2022

Fields Medal The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of Mathematicians, International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place e ...

ist Among its notable alumni are prominent figures in international organizations and businesses such as

, the eighth

secretary-general of the United Nations The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...

(UN);

Hoesung Lee Hoesung Lee (; born December 31, 1945) is a South Korean economist who served as the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from 2015 to 2023. He is professor in the economics of climate change, energy and sustainable dev ...

, chairman of the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to "provide governments at all levels with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies". The World Met ...

(IPCC);

Song Sang-hyun Song Sang-hyun (; born 21 December 1941) is a South Korean lawyer and former President of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Biography Song attended Seoul National University Law School, graduating with an LL.B. in 1963.snusong.netProfil ...

, former president of the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...

(ICC);

Lee Jong-wook Lee Jong-wook (; 12 April 1945 – 22 May 2006) was a South Korean physician. He was the director-general of the World Health Organization for three years. Lee joined the WHO in 1983, working on a variety of projects including the ''Global Pr ...

, the sixth director-general of the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

(WHO),

O-Gon Kwon O-Gon Kwon (; born 2 September 1953) is a South Korean jurist, best known for being one of the three judges in the trial of Slobodan Milošević. He also sat on the bench for the trial of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić. Early li ...

, former vice president and permanent judge in the

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes in the Yugoslav Wars, war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to tr ...

(ICTY);

Kwon Oh-hyun Kwon Oh-hyun (born 15 October 1952) is the former Vice Chairman and CEO of Samsung Electronics. In 2013, ''Time Magazine'' added him to their top 100 list of most influential people. In 2014, he was awarded the Top Scientist and Technologist Awar ...

, former CEO and vice chairman of

; and

Bang Si-hyuk Bang Si-hyuk (; born August 9, 1972) is a South Korean music executive, record producer and songwriter who is a founder the record label Big Hit Music and the chairperson of HYBE Corporation. One of the 50 wealthiest people in South Korea acco ...

, the chairman and founder of

HYBE Corporation Hybe Co., Ltd. (; stylized as Hybe Corporation; commonly known as simply Hybe) is a South Korean multinational entertainment company established in 2005 by Bang Si-hyuk as Big Hit Entertainment Co., Ltd. The company operates as a record l ...

In popular media

* The campus was used as a location for SBS's drama ''

Star's Lover ''Star's Lover'' (; also known as ''Celebrity's Sweetheart'') is a 2008 South Korean television series starring Choi Ji-woo and Yoo Ji-tae that aired on SBS. A love story between a star actress and an ordinary man, director Boo Sung-chul said ...

'' (2008). Specific sites, such as the gallery,

Kyujanggak Kyujanggak () was the royal library of the Joseon dynasty. It was founded in 1776 by order of King Jeongjo of Joseon (as a major policy arm of his government), at which time it was located on the grounds of Changdeokgung. Today known as Kyujangg ...

, and museum roads, were filmed to show the university where Kim Chul-soo (

Yoo Ji-tae Yoo Ji-tae (; born April 13, 1976) is a South Korean actor. After a stint as a fashion model, Yoo launched his acting career in 1998 then rose to fame through the films '' Attack the Gas Station'' (1999) and '' Ditto'' (2000). In the succeeding ...

) works, classrooms where he gives his lectures, and the things Lee Ma-ri (

Choi Ji-woo Choi Ji-woo (; born June 11, 1975), born Choi Mi-hyang (), is a South Korean actress. Considered one of South Korea's most beautiful women, she has received critical acclaim for her work in a wide range of melodramas, most notably '' Beautiful ...

) sees and experiences during a school visit. This was the first time the university allowed its campus to be used as a film or TV set. * In May 2015, the 185th trip of the famous Korean variety show ''

2 Days & 1 Night ''2 Days & 1 Night'' (; also known as ''1 Night 2 Days''; abbreviated as ''1N2D'') is a South Korean reality-variety show that airs every Sunday at 6:10pm KST on KBS2 beginning August 5, 2007. ''1 Night 2 Days'' used to be one of the two segmen ...

'' helped publicize the university by holding various tasks on the campus in the show's very own fashion. * In the tvN drama ''

Reply 1988 ''Reply 1988'' () is a South Korean television series and the third installment of the ''Reply'' anthology series. It stars an ensemble cast led by Lee Hye-ri, Park Bo-gum, Ryu Jun-yeol, Go Kyung-pyo, and Lee Dong-hwi. It revolves around ...

'' (2016),

Ryu Hye-young Ryu Hye-young (; born March 28, 1991) is a South Korean actress and model. She is best known for her role in the hit drama series ''Reply 1988'' (2015–2016) and ''Law School A law school (also known as a law centre/center, college of la ...

portrays Sung Bo-ra, an SNU student majoring in math education. * In the hit

JTBC JTBC (shortened from Joongang Tongyang Broadcasting Company; ; stylized in all lowercase) is a South Korean nationwide pay television network. Its primary shareholder is JoongAng Holdings, with a 25% stake. It was launched on December 1, ...

drama ''

Sky Castle ''Sky Castle'' (; stylized as ''SKY Castle'') is a South Korean television series starring Yum Jung-ah, Lee Tae-ran, Yoon Se-ah, Oh Na-ra, and Kim Seo-hyung. It aired on JTBC on Fridays and Saturdays at 22:50 ( KST), from November 23, 2018, t ...

'' (2018–2019), SNU figures heavily in the plot. * In

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

's critically acclaimed and hugely popular series ''

Squid Game ''Squid Game'' () is a South Korean Utopian and dystopian fiction, dystopian Survival film, survival Thriller (genre)#Television, thriller horror television series created, written and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk for Netflix. The series revol ...

'' (2021), main character Cho Sang-woo's attendance at SNU is a recurring plot point. * In the tvN drama ''

Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha ''Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha'' () is a 2021 South Korean romantic comedy drama television series starring Shin Min-a, Kim Seon-ho and Lee Sang-yi. It is a remake of 2004 South Korean film '' Mr. Handy, Mr. Hong''. It aired on tvN from August 28 ...

'' (2021), main character Hong Du-sik is an SNU graduate. * In the

SBS TV SBS TV (Seoul Broadcasting System Television) is a South Korean free-to-air television channel operated by Seoul Broadcasting System. The channel was launched on 9 December 1991. Unlike competing network MBC, SBS operates using a federalized ...

drama '' The Penthouse: War in Life'' (2020–2021), many of the characters describe SNU as the ideal university to attend. * In the tvN drama / Netflix drama, ''

Queen of Tears ''Queen of Tears'' () is a 2024 South Korean romantic comedy television series written by Park Ji-eun, co-directed by and Kim Hee-won, and starring Kim Soo-hyun, Kim Ji-won, Park Sung-hoon, Kwak Dong-yeon, and Lee Joo-bin. The series explores ...

'' (2024), male character Baek Hyun Woo is an SNU graduate.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 1946 establishments in Korea Universities and colleges established in 1946 Universities and colleges in Seoul National universities and colleges in South Korea Gwanak District